A Lesson in Epic from Veronica Mars

By Amanda Festa

Veronica Mars brings to the table all of the important life lessons: Don’t sacrifice who you are for money, power, or success. And, above all, don’t sacrifice passion for comfort.

Veronica and Logan

Epic.

When Veronica Mars was abruptly cancelled in 2007, fans were not happy. Sure, it was a great show, and it had a ton of untapped potential (Dick Casablancas and Eli Navarro were characters just scraping the surface in the third season). But, fans are more likely to swallow the bitter pill of a prematurely cancelled show if they are at least satisfied with the ending.

For Veronica Mars fans, this was a problem. In the final episode (clearly not originally conceived as a series finale), Veronica is dating likeable (but ironically disliked by fans) Piz (Chris Lowell), while she is on a slow build to reconciling with her ex-boyfriend (and runaway fan favorite) Logan (Jason Dohring). As a longtime Logan fan, I will offer this disclaimer: It’s not that we necessarily needed Logan and Veronica to end up together, but we needed something more than them ending on terrible terms, with only the vague implication that maybe someday they will be able to be in the same room together – a notion we are only given as they exchange a fleeting glance, imbued after the fact with meaning to placate the throngs of torch-carrying shippers. Continue reading

Skins and the Teen Drama Rebellion: Why it’s not a Cautionary Tale

Skins1By Amanda Festa

“Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.” – Josephine Hart

There was something that drew me to the British teen drama Skins.  It was gritty and intense, approaching issues in a way that wasn’t sugar coated and didn’t always end with a convenient lesson and a well-timed group hug. Because sometimes in life shit just happens. And it was refreshing to find a show about teens that are not thirty-year-old men masquerading as high school sophomores.  I’ve heard the show be described as realistic, and while there are parts of it that are extremely indicative of contemporary youth culture, if it is real, there is something horrific to be said about the current conditions of adolescence that is noticeably absent from the CW Network.  Continue reading

Throwback Thursday Goes Back to the Creek

By Amanda Festa and Kyle Leahy

Dawson's Creek

For our first Throwback Thursday, let us take you back to the year 1998 to a little shore town called Capeside. Contributors Kyle and Amanda were Dawson’s Creek fans from the beginning, but that’s where their commonality ends. This Thursday, we dive headfirst into the Creek — with our favorite memories of the seaside town, it’s well-spoken residents, and one of the best teen love triangles of our generation. Continue reading

Orphan Black: You Should Be Watching This Show

By Cara

To tell you the truth, I was not looking to add another new show to my ever growing list of television obligations.  But I swear to you, when BBC America pulls you in, there’s very little you can do to stop it from happening.  That’s how I started on Orphan Black, a fun little drama about a girl and her many clones.  We’re heading into the first season finale, and the performance(s) by Tatiana Maslany have been Emmy-worthy.  It’s a feast for the eyes to see all the different characters she can be and then to see them interact with one another.

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10 Questions We Wish Revolution Would Answer

RevolutionBy Kyle

We lived in an electric world. We relied on it for everything. And then the power went out. Everything stopped working. We weren’t prepared. Fear and confusion led to panic. The lucky ones made it out of the cities. The government collapsed. Militias took over, controlling the food supply and stockpiling weapons. We still don’t know why the power went out. But we’re hopeful someone will come and light the way. (Episode,1 Introduction)

NBC’s Revolution is an American post-apocalyptic television drama that started in fall 2012, and is already in its second season. The show revolves around a young girl, Charlie Matheson, and her family living in an America where all the power has been turned off for 15 years. In her quest, Charlie finds her estranged Uncle Miles, played by Billy Burke, a high ranking ex-general of the Monroe Republic. In each episode, the audience learns more and more about why the power went off and what happened in the last 15 years without it.  Still, it is a show that often leaves you with more questions than answers.  Aside from the obvious concerns, here are ten of the questions that I need answered.

This list contains spoilers. Continue reading

Top of the Lake

Top of the LakeBy Cara

I had heard about this miniseries through the AV Club’s TV website.  Mistakenly, I came in at episode 4, which was both dumb and annoying.  I quickly rectified that and am now caught up on all aired episodes.  Elisabeth Moss (of Mad Men fame but since I don’t watch Mad Men, I’m going to say she’s of West Wing fame) is an Australian police detective named Robin who is home in New Zealand while her mom undergoes cancer treatment.  While she’s there, she is called in by the local police to investigate the possible pregnancy of a 12-year-old girl, Tui Mitcham.  Tui won’t tell Robin who the father could be, and within a few days, Tui disappears from the area, leaving behind the horse she was riding on.

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An Open Letter to Pretty Little Liars

PLLBy Amanda Festa

Dear Pretty Little Liars,

Your third season finale has me a little confused. I apologize, I don’t do hallucinogenic drugs, so I couldn’t really follow this last season. Toby’s bad. Toby’s dead. Toby’s alive. Toby’s good. Toby’s good, pretending to be bad. The only thing I did buy was Spencer’s recent catatonic depression – now that is what someone being pursued by a psycho killer with no where to turn looks like. Not wearing a blazer and studying for a chem test. This isn’t Constance Prep.  You’re not meeting Blair on the Met steps for yogurt; someone is trying to murder you.  I think it’s okay to let yourself go just a little. Continue reading

Thoughts from a Veronica Mars FanGirl

By Cara

I didn’t want my first post to be something akin to ‘omg, I’m an obsessed Veronica Mars fangirl!!!’ — but here I am, admitting to being an obsessed Veronica Mars fangirl. Yes, that’s me, watching reruns on SOAPNet on Saturday afternoons even though I own the DVDs and feel ambivalent about the third (and last) season. Maybe I secretly hoped that in some way, somehow it would come back and resolve itself, nicely wrapped up in a big, red bow. Continue reading

Kickstarting the Veronica Mars Revolution

Veronica MarsBy Amanda Festa

Remember all those times you were talking about the possibility of a Veronica Mars movie? All those times you said, “man, I would pay to see that.”  Well, hopefully last week you put your money where your mouth is.  It seems about 50,000 other people have.  Continue reading

A Love Letter to La Femme Nikita

Nikita and MichaelBy Amanda Festa

My love of television was first solidified in high school with a show called La Femme Nikita — the original (adaptation of the French film) not the CW remake (of the television show adapted from the French film).  Back then the internet for television aficionados consisted of America Online chat rooms and a handful of Angelfire and Geocities fan-run websites.  With no DVR, no social media, and a download speed that would be laughable to teenagers today, I believe this will be my generation’s “walking to school barefoot uphill both ways.”
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